By now we pretty much get where Piers is at when it comes to gun control. As far as I'm concerned he's been useful in bringing some important issues to the fore.
And it seems sensible enough to me that a society might want to keep its criminally insane away from gun ownership. The mentally ill too.
But, as Ted Nugent pointed out tonight, no matter how many laws you pass, you're never going to 100% eliminate the possibility that a crazy person will get their hands on a gun.
So if I was Piers' manager, I think I'd be suggesting that he move things along a little bit and get himself over this gun control crusade.
Showing posts with label Gun control debate in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gun control debate in America. Show all posts
Monday, February 4, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Piers Morgan gets pants'd by Ben Shapiro
It's not that often that I see eye to eye with Ben Shapiro, but he definitely got the better of Piers Morgan tonight.
Morgan is still full tilt into his anti-gun campaign. He's at risk of pegging himself as a one-issue talking head. The one issue he's made his own since Sandy Hook is gun control.
In the first place, there is something mightily presumptuous about a recent immigrant taking on the second amendment. And while I believe America needs to have that debate, I question whether an Englishman who just washed up on America's shores is the right man to lead it.
Shapiro had the perfect rejoinder to that ubiquitous "why do you need an assault rifle to go hunting" argument.
It's not about hunting. It's about the day your government turns on you, Shapiro replied.
Shapiro has some family history in Germany back in the 30's when the government did exactly that.
And that is by no means an isolated incident.
Which is not to say that every Tom, Dick, and Scary should have the "right" to pick up an AR-15 and 6,000 rounds of ammo at the local Wal-mart.
I definitely got the sense that Ben agrees that the mentally unstable should be kept away from guns in general and military grade hardware in particular.
I just wish he'd raise his voice for the 101 ancillary issues that becloud gun control; poverty, crime, racism, alienation, desperation, poverty, the destruction of the working class in America, crime, poverty, the hatred engendered by the destruction of hope in America, poverty, crime....
Morgan is still full tilt into his anti-gun campaign. He's at risk of pegging himself as a one-issue talking head. The one issue he's made his own since Sandy Hook is gun control.
In the first place, there is something mightily presumptuous about a recent immigrant taking on the second amendment. And while I believe America needs to have that debate, I question whether an Englishman who just washed up on America's shores is the right man to lead it.
Shapiro had the perfect rejoinder to that ubiquitous "why do you need an assault rifle to go hunting" argument.
It's not about hunting. It's about the day your government turns on you, Shapiro replied.
Shapiro has some family history in Germany back in the 30's when the government did exactly that.
And that is by no means an isolated incident.
Which is not to say that every Tom, Dick, and Scary should have the "right" to pick up an AR-15 and 6,000 rounds of ammo at the local Wal-mart.
I definitely got the sense that Ben agrees that the mentally unstable should be kept away from guns in general and military grade hardware in particular.
I just wish he'd raise his voice for the 101 ancillary issues that becloud gun control; poverty, crime, racism, alienation, desperation, poverty, the destruction of the working class in America, crime, poverty, the hatred engendered by the destruction of hope in America, poverty, crime....
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Why Ted Nugent should fire up a fattie
Don't get me wrong. I love Ted. He's one of the finest rock-and-roll guitarists who ever lived. As far as I'm concerned he's right up there with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
In fact, I think one reason he has never gotten his due as a musician is because he goes so far out of his way to push the envelope of political incorrectitude.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's an envelope I often try to push in my own way.
And I know that in his heart Ted is a sportsman when it comes to his hunting activities. Just today he was Tweeting from his deer-sit where's he's spending Christmas Eve with a crossbow.
That's a far cry from sitting in that deer-sit holding a Bushmaster with a 30 round clip.
I know Ted would correct me. That's not a clip; it's a "magazine."
So we know that Ted is, after all and above all, a true sportsman.
But when a toff like Piers Morgan gets him on TV Ted doesn't do himself any favors. What the hell is up with that "suck on my machine gun" stuff?
Ted, get a grip; that just makes you sound like a weirdo.
That's why you should fire one up now and then, Ted. It'll mellow you out a bit. In fact, if you want to head up this way I can hook you up with the coyote hunters around here. Nobody's got a 30 round clip, but they're providing an essential public service to the local farm economy.
And they bag dozens of coyotes every winter.
I can hook you up with some primo Puslinch red-hair too. It does a great job taking the edge off.
Hell, you won't even miss that 30 round clip.
In fact, I think one reason he has never gotten his due as a musician is because he goes so far out of his way to push the envelope of political incorrectitude.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's an envelope I often try to push in my own way.
And I know that in his heart Ted is a sportsman when it comes to his hunting activities. Just today he was Tweeting from his deer-sit where's he's spending Christmas Eve with a crossbow.
That's a far cry from sitting in that deer-sit holding a Bushmaster with a 30 round clip.
I know Ted would correct me. That's not a clip; it's a "magazine."
So we know that Ted is, after all and above all, a true sportsman.
But when a toff like Piers Morgan gets him on TV Ted doesn't do himself any favors. What the hell is up with that "suck on my machine gun" stuff?
Ted, get a grip; that just makes you sound like a weirdo.
That's why you should fire one up now and then, Ted. It'll mellow you out a bit. In fact, if you want to head up this way I can hook you up with the coyote hunters around here. Nobody's got a 30 round clip, but they're providing an essential public service to the local farm economy.
And they bag dozens of coyotes every winter.
I can hook you up with some primo Puslinch red-hair too. It does a great job taking the edge off.
Hell, you won't even miss that 30 round clip.
Deport Piers Morgan?
Maybe it takes an outsider to put America's gun culture in the spotlight.
A petition to have Morgan deported back to his native England has by now more than 50,000 signatures. Those are folks who want to deport Piers because he has been using the old Larry King slot to lobby for tighter gun control legislation in America.
They see his lobbying as a threat to the Second Amendment.
Aren't they forgetting the First Amendment?
Frankly, while I don't necessarily agree with him across the board, he's one of the highest profile media personalities making an issue of what unfettered access to military hardware is doing to America. That's a debate that's long overdue.
It's easy enough to endlessly regurgitate the truism that it's not guns killing people, it's people.
Yet it's also beyond debate that people with guns kill a lot more people than people without guns.
One of the tragedies about this entire non-debate is how little serious discussion there is about the underlying factors that are behind so many of the headlines.
After all, there are plenty of societies around the world where guns are common but mass killings are virtually unheard of. Maybe it's time to look at a couple of the other contributing factors.
The rampant over-prescription of psycho-tropic drugs.
The almost complete absence of support systems for people with mental health issues.
If Joe Shmuck down the street has lost his job and his house and his family has deserted him and he's been gobbling down the anti-depressants, is it a good idea that he be able to buy, no questions asked, an arsenal of military grade hardware and thousands of rounds of ammo?
I think not.
A petition to have Morgan deported back to his native England has by now more than 50,000 signatures. Those are folks who want to deport Piers because he has been using the old Larry King slot to lobby for tighter gun control legislation in America.
They see his lobbying as a threat to the Second Amendment.
Aren't they forgetting the First Amendment?
Frankly, while I don't necessarily agree with him across the board, he's one of the highest profile media personalities making an issue of what unfettered access to military hardware is doing to America. That's a debate that's long overdue.
It's easy enough to endlessly regurgitate the truism that it's not guns killing people, it's people.
Yet it's also beyond debate that people with guns kill a lot more people than people without guns.
One of the tragedies about this entire non-debate is how little serious discussion there is about the underlying factors that are behind so many of the headlines.
After all, there are plenty of societies around the world where guns are common but mass killings are virtually unheard of. Maybe it's time to look at a couple of the other contributing factors.
The rampant over-prescription of psycho-tropic drugs.
The almost complete absence of support systems for people with mental health issues.
If Joe Shmuck down the street has lost his job and his house and his family has deserted him and he's been gobbling down the anti-depressants, is it a good idea that he be able to buy, no questions asked, an arsenal of military grade hardware and thousands of rounds of ammo?
I think not.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)